[WAVAMember]

What happened here?
The vocals are awful.
https://soundcloud.com/shaun-tilley-1/shaun-tilleys-70s-80s-heaven-jam-jingle-re-sings-2016

[mjb1124Member]

Must be UK vocals.

[PKMember]

Vocals recorded at S2Blue in Manchester.

[IainJohnston]

What an “amazing” coincidence…this report appeared on JM sister website Radio Today…er…today…
https://radiotoday.co.uk/2017/03/shaun-tilley-starts-new-show-on-bbc-locals/

As for the vocals quality… listeners will ask “why are they singing “Seventy Seven” and “Eighty Seven”?
Enunciation enunciation enunciation… needs a tiny but discernable pause/emphasis between the
“…ies” and the “Heaven”. And the sono lacks clarity – very “blurred”.

Awfy sorry Simon P – but JMW wouldn’t have let some of these out of the door.

[GrahamCollins]

Jeez, I’m lost for words…..

[rakMember]

That vocal at 50″!

[IanF]

I thought S2Blue were supposed to have new singers joining Steve Butler to do this kind of stuff??? A handful of theses were just about ok but most of them were dissapointing. As much vocal depth as a wheely bin too! S2Blue’s PAMS resings for Coast & County Radio were far better! I’m not sure for the reasons for this but come on! A better job next time. I’m sure Top Format would’ve done a better job!!

[mjb1124Member]

Yeah, S2Blue generally does a good job on the PAMS stuff – maybe even (gasp!) better than JAM when it comes to the all-male unison sound (i.e. Series 27/29). A lot of their own stuff is good too. But these JAM resings definitely leave something to be desired. Best to go straight to the source in this case.

[JAM / PAMSMember]

These cuts were not sung or mixed in Dallas, and this is the first time we’ve heard them. There are some problems, and the audio on SoundCloud is very distorted which doesn’t help matters.

The press release says “The programme’s imaging will be re-sung classic JAM Radio 1 jingles from the 70s and 80s produced by S2Blue.” Our ongoing question is, if you’re trying to re-create the magic of “JAM Radio 1 jingles”, why wouldn’t you spend the few extra Pounds to have them done by JAM, the people who made them in the first place? We never understand this.

[DuncanNewmarchMember]

I tried to recreate some of those classic R1 jingles with British singers about 20 years ago (the boss wanted a proudly British sound), a couple worked out pretty well and some others were painful- I wouldn’t consider going anywhere other than Parkdale Dr now. Trying to remain positive, there are some GREAT cuts in that montage but unfortunately the singing lets them down considerably. It’s a shame, it’s not like the UK doesn’t have amazing singers. The Dallas jingle singers have masses of experience, they clearly love to sing and do it with such confidence and ease. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased to hear any jingle on British radio (I heard these 70s/80s Heaven cuts on Cheesy FM- a station that does have some good jingles!) but if you’re going to do it, do it properly.

[IanF]

I agree Jon. If they’re recreating the Radio 1 sound of the day, then go to JAM.

Hey Duncan, not all the cuts the Alfa singers did were great but most were good so credit due to you and them….which leads me to this……

….Maybe Shaun is partly to blame on this too. Maybe he should’ve been more demanding in the finished product like other radio folk in history. He’s a paying client at the end of the day and standards should be there which includes his show, S2Blue’s abilities and the sound of the JAM product! This topic makes me sad and angry simultaneously especially with those who CAN do better.

Whinge over….

[gameswizardMember]

Curious to know why Jon wasn’t made aware his tracks were being used/sung over in the first place.
Does Jon not have to “pass/O.K.” a resung product? After all, it’s his great name/company at stake here.

Is it part of the deal that a UK agent for JAM, i.e. “S2Blue”, can use tracks at will without notifying JAM?

Regardless, I’ve never been a fan of “cut & shut” jingles. They stand out like a sore thumb.
And who on earth did the “sonovox”?

It’s resings like those Tilley cuts that could lose a company money in the long run.

[DuncanNewmarchMember]

In my opinion, 3 Lincs FM jingles that were sung well by Alfasound in the 90s and the most awful Christmas jingle ‘yule’ ever hear.
https://soundcloud.com/user-223115677/they-can-sing-honest

[LenGroat]

As Duncan said to get THE sound there is one place – ‘Parkdale Drive’ + Iain pointed out the ’77’ and ’87’ error due to
(presumably) the DJ or someone at the station deciding on the phrase with ‘Heaven’ after it? S2Blue should know better and should have pointed out it would not work – but then again ‘the client is always right’ – that’s why in some jingle packages EVERY cut ends with the station name sung identically. As far back as 1988 I had both ‘Radio Trent’ & ‘GEM-AM’ sung to VARIOUS melodies, in the front. middle or end of jingles….

The KEY thing is it’s 60 minute show covering 2 decades so why so many jingles (even Tony Blackburn has less) they should have bought less, and had Dallas vocals! Surely ‘another Nail in the BBC local radio coffin’ , trying to be trendy and garner publicity, but getting it the wrong way?

I guess Steve England did the Sono which sounds fine, and I’m sorry to be negative as I spent a lot of the 80s in very long vocal sessions at Alfa trying to get even remotely near Dallas vocals – we only/partially achieved that when we (and Mike Powell at County Sound) flew in Jackie D, Mike Collier, Johnny & Debbie Hooper to sing on tracks Alan Fawkes and I created. But basically, to GET JAM you have to GO to JAM ….

I DO have to say Alan Fawkes did write some GREAT tracks at Alfa – his melodies were superb, and Steve Butler and Sheila Gott were an excellent vocal ‘team’ then, but these are a backward step and not great PR for either the BBC or S2Blue. It’s a shame as I met Simon at Alfa when he was one year old – and 3 decades later he lives and breathes radio and music production – but I think in this case it would have been wise to refer the ‘client’ to Jon?

p.s. + of course someone does not know how to use a compressor and screwed every inch of quality out of them with OVER compression 1

[IainJohnston]

“I guess Steve England did the Sono”

Are you sure about that Len?
Scattered throughout my collection are examples of Steve doing what I believe is the BEST jingle sono outside
of Dallas (JMW and Ken Justiss no less) – maybe the mixing (and as you say the compression intensity) causes
the “blurring” I hear.

(By example – Steve on “one oh three point two” pan-pot for Leicester Sound, or even “knickers!” for Piccadilly
– non-broadcast, surely ?!? – are better than what I’m hearing on the demo montage here).

[martinlesterMember]

“I guess Steve England did the Sono”

Are you sure about that Len?
Scattered throughout my collection are examples of Steve doing what I believe is the BEST jingle sono outside
of Dallas (JMW and Ken Justiss no less) – maybe the mixing (and as you say the compression intensity) causes
the “blurring” I hear.

(By example – Steve on “one oh three point two” pan-pot for Leicester Sound, or even “knickers!” for Piccadilly
– non-broadcast, surely ?!? – are better than what I’m hearing on the demo montage here).

I have a huge collection of Steve England on Sonovox and do agree outside of Dallas , Steve has the best Sonovox voice in the UK

I am 99.9% sure he was not responsible for the Sonovox , it’s nothing like him at all

[martinlesterMember]

These cuts were not sung or mixed in Dallas, and this is the first time we’ve heard them. There are some problems, and the audio on SoundCloud is very distorted which doesn’t help matters.

The press release says “The programme’s imaging will be re-sung classic JAM Radio 1 jingles from the 70s and 80s produced by S2Blue.” Our ongoing question is, if you’re trying to re-create the magic of “JAM Radio 1 jingles”, why wouldn’t you spend the few extra Pounds to have them done by JAM, the people who made them in the first place? We never understand this.

Sometimes Less is more

Instead of 20 plus jingles with UK Vocals

Would have been better to get 10 direct from the master

[tyty21]

In JMW’s point of view, and others, I would agree! If you’re gonna do an R1 recreation, Parkdale Drive is the one and only place to be for that.

[martinlesterMember]

Steve England from Alfasound Days with Quick examples of Best Sonovox in the UK

[gameswizardMember]

Steve England from Alfasound Days with Quick examples of Best Sonovox in the UK

Listening to that reminds me of Alfasounds “Sonotronix” demo from the 80’s.
That demo showcased some great examples of Sonovox’s outside of Dallas (JAM).

[martinlesterMember]

Looks Like this is not a BBC in house show but produced by a company called Curly Cat productions and re sold to various BBC Local stations, I assume this might explain the cut costing jingles

[IanF]

Just had a quick listen to theses S2Blue UK resings of PAMS and JAM for Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70’s show. Cuts 1 > 5 are very nicely done.

http://imaging.s2blue.com/Imaging-Package.aspx?packageId=ff48bc60-a2eb-4e11-b929-2e31b34ab19b

[martinlesterMember]

This company Curly Cat Productions is Shaun Tilley own company so he must have signed off on the jingles !

[IainJohnston]

I notice that on the s/c “related files” to the demo there’s “airchecks” of some of his shows (one has
David Hamilton “sitting in”), JAM R1 (and possibly PAMS?) countdown cut number acapellas seem
to already be in use?

One file seems (and I apologise if I’m mis-interpreting this…) appears to be the programme
going out on the World Service feed (???).

[rakMember]

I notice that on the s/c “related files” to the demo there’s “airchecks” of some of his shows (one has
David Hamilton “sitting in”), JAM R1 (and possibly PAMS?) countdown cut number acapellas seem
to already be in use?

One file seems (and I apologise if I’m mis-interpreting this…) appears to be the programme
going out on the World Service feed (???).

There was a sequence of about 4 JAM Radio 1 Chart jingles strung together – he’s certainly showing off his collection of the R1 master reels.

[Author]

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